It sounds crazy. You have a car registered in your name that you rarely drive. And when you do, it is the beautiful feelings that overwhelm you. It may sound even crazier if you are talking about a Toyota Starlet 1.3i Sport from 1995. In now faded red, but with 275.000 kilometers on the clock. And in a technical condition that you still say goodbye to. Maintenance is conservation.
Regular readers know this by now. The Toyota is no stranger, and was surrounded by incense both through these columns and in the magazine. And I was the one who started it. Because this Toyota always means something to me. That started in 2017, when I bought the car as a second car for the family. You know the history, and for those who don't know: he referred the desire to purchase a European as a second car to the eternal hunting grounds. It had 202.000 kilometers on the clock, adding 73.000 well-maintained kilometers in seven years.
Every ride was good for a smile. And that is still the case. How it is? The rickety Japanese is still registered in my name, but Hester drives it every day. And now that our eldest daughter has obtained her driver's license in one go, the Starlet has a regular driver. She covers her first practical kilometers with the pink piece of paper in her pocket in the Toyota. And that alone makes the car special for her. And I still enjoy it when I get my hands on the Toyota again. A smile every kilometer, every kilometer I still enjoy that frisky and youthful handling, that smooth technology and the spirit that is still present with this mileage. And truly incredible: not a drop of oil has been added for seven years. Not a drop of coolant. And really: all that glitters is not gold; the bodywork is slowly starting to need some love. But it is fine in vital places. At the same time: the more faded, the more the unsurpassed technical qualities of the Toyota come to the fore.
The cart makes a lot of noise. That happened again recently. Hester was on holiday for a few days with our three children. She made the choice to visit her destination by train. This gave me the opportunity to go out with the Toyota again, the old-fashioned way. For the first time in a year and a half, I took the Starlet to my regular employer's location. That seems mundane, but for me it certainly wasn't. This commute brought back many memories. I often took the little Japanese with me to Weststellingwerf, and it often happened that I had not seen several people during such a day, but they knew I was there. “Because we saw the Starlet.” A former colleague said it very nicely recently. “Every time I see a car like that, I think of you.” And another former colleague told us that she used to have a red Starlet herself. “So much fun, he always did it too. And how wonderful that you are still keeping it on the road.” You feel the love for the Starlet. Anyone who recognizes it will love this type of Toyota for a lifetime.
My colleague Marianne often rode with me some time ago. I would pick her up at the station in Leeuwarden, and conversations would ensue that remained within the familiar setting of the Toyota. We also often had carefree fun. The radio station on duty was often Waterstad FM. And the broadcasts were never interrupted by quasi-funny and chattering DJs, but by local advertisements. A restaurant from the north of the province of Fryslân had very cleverly tailored an advertising message to the traffic information. Marianne and I could dream up the content, we had fun with it and the 'salááde flight lane' became a real running gag in the Starlet. This also applied to a certain café that we passed every day. I will spare you the content of the conversations about that, but you can bet that visual thinking in a car also led to hilarious scenes. With that tinny radio sound in the background. Speaking of the radio: neighbor Sido recently used a trick to ensure that the radio no longer draws power when you turn off the ignition of the Toyota. When the Starlet stood still for a while it did not start. Rerouting a cable restored the Toyota's eternal operational reliability.
Recently it happened again, and during the commute to work in retrospect even more thoughts passed in review. I thought about the first long drive to Zandvoort, which was very nice and brought out a nice and old-fashioned driving feeling. I thought about the times when the Starlet was a lifesaver. He was that regularly. When the first family cars did not feel like doing their military service, he was ready to take on the tasks of successively the Citroën, to take over the Lancia and the Opel. He then tirelessly carried out his task, and during long journeys he placed the shiny and considerably younger fleet in a relative and dubious perspective. The packed Toyota would always sing along to its pure-sounding tune, and it would always keep up with traffic effortlessly. I also thought about the dream I had, to one day use the Starlet for a Sabbatical road trip to Southern Europe. To drive it to Cascaïs and Estoril. And take a lap of honor around the circuit where Ayrton Senna took his first Formula 1 victory. It is not without reason that the Circuito Estoril sticker is on the left rear window.
I had thousands of kilometers in mind, thousands of carefree kilometers that would be a continuous tribute to the indestructible technique of the little red warrior from Japan. That dream is still alive, simply because the Starlet is still there. While I was musing along the way, I was stopped by the driver of an Audi A6 Avant. The man with the four rings on his grille and the Samsung or iPhone in his hand hung around for too long. Eventually the driver stopped his undoubtedly interesting digital activities behind the wheel. And what I had experienced so often in the Toyota now happened again. The driver's surprised look was worth gold again during the careless overtaking maneuver.
The Toyota has been that way for years, in many respects. I owned a lot of cars. But this Starlet, which I bought seven years ago for €1.500, is the best car I bought. A car that still means a lot to me. And I never expected that when I took the first test drive with this extremely strong Toyota in 2017.
So recognizable! I also bought a starlet for €2017 in 1500 and am having a lot of fun with it. Besides the old-age replacements and the occasional welding, never much hassle. Our mechanic said after the positive MOT inspection (and annual maintenance) that we certainly shouldn't get rid of it in the coming years (nor do we plan to). I understand the love for the starlet, I feel it too!
Years ago I had a Toyota Corlla 17.D with a tow bar, four-door, but it did get a new radiator, transferring was a piece of cake, diesel consumption during normal driving which I mastered quite well as a multi-year truck driver, 1:17 and not a drop of oil, every year at work on the weekend I turned it upside down, kept track of the mileage, took my caravan with Sprit Musketeer to France Bordeaux and Orange and Cote Azure, and from the wine regions without the Sprite, driving the trunk full of wine back to my I tried it out once, in terms of speed, 178 km more was not possible and I slowly dropped the speed to 100 km, I sold my Toyota to a colleague after eight years and he drove it completely loose within a year, stood there and cried, then I cried a VW Polo petrol 1400 four cyl. 16 valves, drives like a Toyota Corolla 17 D, I had to sob when I read the story about the Starlet 13 i
going to Toronto again in early September, with the Corolla. It's 5000 kilometers to Scarborough.
and back again! I do my oil changes in Moose Jaw. I'm considering whether to take the CX with me. Common sense tells me the Toyota, my heart tells me the CX. I know, its a first world problem. Had 210210 miles on the Corolla today. (it's a 2010) and everything still works.
And I still enjoy driving my Toyota starlet XLi 1.3 from 1990 with great pleasure. Why with great pleasure ??? Because at 84 years old I have never had such a reliable car.
I have been driving a VW for years. I can't complain about the car character that appeals to me so much. Butrrrr…. If I wanted to drive a really reliable car, I should have bought a Japanese one. I give George in that. 100% right!